


the Violence of the Pouring Rain

by Elie



Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Angst, Falling In Love, Family Drama, Fix-It, Humor, I pretend canon doesnt exsist, M/M, Supernatural Elements, THANKS ALOT FINN, alternative universe, and before KOL DIES FROM THAT HEX, more to come probably - Freeform, set from episode 15 from the vampire diaries, when is the originals not family drama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-17
Updated: 2016-10-12
Packaged: 2018-04-09 20:26:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4363052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elie/pseuds/Elie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One night while Kai is just doing something as innocent as getting groceries, he gets approached by a warlock who calls himself Kol Mikaelson. And said warlock is asking for help.. from Kai. </p>
<p>And after that, everything get´s kinda crazy.</p>
<p>(Starts around the time that Kai writes that apology letter to Jo, and before Kol have died from the hex. Basically, everything up to there is canon and nothing else further is.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Who´d know we would meet (you did)

“So I heard there was a new sociopath in town.”

Kai´s keeps a straight mask, even though he´s never heard the voice before. He turns around, the hand not holding his groceries ready to put out a spell if needed. A young man is watching him with a smirk on his face. The man seems to spot Kai´s hands slowly getting ready for that spell that is one the tip of his tongue and raises his hands.

“I´m not here to fight you,” the man says with a thick British accent.

“Who are you?” Kai asks, and lets his hand fall down just a little. The man smiles, “I´m Kol. I need your help, and you might want me on your side,” the man - Kol - says.

Kai laughs.

“I have no need to help people nor to have friends,” he tells Kol and turns to leave. 

“You might not need friends, but an alley is always good to have. My family, they are rather powerful,” Kol says. Kai stops. He wonders if this Kol person actually knows who he is. But then again.. Kai knows fighting and knows that powerful people owning you a favour is always good.

“You´re brave,” Kai says instead of yes and turns around, again. He studies the man. He looks younger than himself (even in his current state where he´s been 18 forever). Yet, there´s something old and proud in the way Kol holds himself.

“Or I know who I should fear, and who I should respect,” Kol replies. The words pleases Kai, but he´s still vary of this man. 

“And which category do I fall in?” Kai asks, and takes a step closer to Kol. There´s a guarded smile on his face. Kol looks him up and down for a second.

“I´m not quite sure yet.”

Kai looks at Kol, before letting his face fall into another smile. 

“So are you gonna invite me to your apartment so we can chat, or what?” Kol asks, a cocky smile on his face. Kai wonders if he would sound just as awesome as Kol with a British accent.

-

Kai leads the way to the apartment. It´s not far, not really. Kol walks beside him, looking around like it´s just another day. Completely normal. Kai wonders how. If Kol knows who he is, what he is, why isn´t the little wimp shaking with fear?

When they (accidentally) brush hands though, Kai can feel the magic. His hand jerks just enough for his reaction to be visible. He´s a little surprised by the magic because usually he can without problem feel when there´s another warlock close. He tires to pretend he´s not surprised. It´s all a beat to late. Kol just smirks at him again, like he knows that Kai didn´t know. Something irks him, about the magic that had struck out from Kol. Almost like.. there was something wrong with it. But Kai quickly brushes it away, and blames it on himself being paranoid.

-

“Here we are,” Kai says as he swings the door open. It´s not a big apartment, it´s not like he had loads of money after being stuck nineteen years in a prison. Truth be told, he may have used magic to rob a bank. Just a little though. Nothing.. to big. Nothing that could be traced back to him anyway.

Kol follows him in the door. Before Kai can say anything more Kol is already falling down on the couch looking like he´s over at a close friends and not some stranger. Kai just kinda nods, and pretends that he´s cool. He´s okay with this. He´s killed lots of people before, some wierdo warlock isn´t gonna put him out.

So he carries his groceries to the kitchen side of the room and starts putting them in the cupboards and in the fridge. 

“Why don´t you just use magic to do that?” Kol asks from where he´s still sitting on the couch.

Kai´s happy he´s back is turned against Kol, so Kol can´t see his frown. He recovers quickly though, 

“We´re not in some idiotic disney movie!” is his response. Kol snorts, and Kai can hear him whisper some words. Suddenly all his groceries are flying around in the kitchen. Kai is about to yell and tell Kol to stop cause he is not walking down to the grocery store again. But then the fridge´s door opens, and the cupoards too. Everything flies into it´s own spot, without any problem at all.

It actually seems to work. Things seems to be sorting themselves. Kai waits until the last cupboard slams shut before he says anything.

“I may not be completely used to having magic again,” he confesses as he walks back to Kol. Kol grins up at him, 

“what´s fun with magic if you can´t even have fun with it?” Wow. This guy kind of gets it. Kai finds himself smiling and fuck, Kai doesn´t smile. Not real smiles at least.

“So what do you want?” he asks and sits down in the chair beside the couch. For the first time this night, Kol seems unsure.

“I need your help,” Kol starts. Kai rolls his eyes. “No, listen now. This is not my original body. Jeremy and Elena Gilbert burned it to a crisp when they put a stake in my heart. Now, I´m back and I want my old body back too. And to do that, I need a powerful witch that doesn´t have any feuds with my family and doesn't want me like.. dead, again,” Kai sits still and lets Kol talk. The boy seems to be talking the truth. Even with the guarded expression Kol has Kai can see the emotion in his eyes. And also, something more. Fear.

“Who´s your family? You mentioned them being powerful,” Kai asks, even though he´s the last person who should be asking about that. He should probably not even be thinking about judging someone based on their family. Kol smiles a little at him. 

“The Original Vampires.”

Kai can´t help but raise his eyebrows at Kol, “but aren´t you supposed to be a vampire then?”

“My mother resurrected me after my death, and put me in this witch body so I could be her little soldier. I didn´t like that, and now I want out.”

Kai thinks that if he could raise his eyebrows anymore they would probably disappear into his hairline. 

“How did your mother take that?” he asks. Because seriously, he might be a witch with a lot of knowledge but theres no way in hell he will take on the mother of the original vampires.

“She´s either dead or she´s gotten turned into a vampire and is locked into a tomb,” Kol states simply. 

“Oh well, that makes things easier at least,” Kai answers. He wonders how Kol can seem so unfazed by the fact that his mother for over a thousand years is dead. But then again, he hated his mother and he didn´t care when she died, when he killed her. Or at least he didn´t care about her death before the merge. Damn, Luke and his stupid feelings. Probably laughing at him from the grave.

“So you´ll help me?” Kol sounds close to desperate. Kai feels more at ease now that he is the one in control, and grins. “I guess, if it means I´ll have you as my alley.”

“I will owe you,” Kol says and Kai knows that is the closest thing he can get to a yes. 

-

Turns out, Kol doesn´t really have any planned space to crash. So the only natural thing is of course for Kai to invite him to sleep on his couch.

Kol smiles, but still looks unsure. 

“I´m not gonna murder you in your sleep or something,” Kai says jokingly. Kol looks at him before he answers, 

“I heard you were an unstable sociopath.” 

“You kill some of your family, and suddenly you are unstable!” Kai jokes and smiles when he sees Kol chuckle a little. 

“I guess I could just stay here, I mean.. I have no other place set up,” Kol confesses. Inside Kai thinks yes yes yes. Then he pretends the happy feeling in his stomach is because he now has even more power over the original warlock and not.. something else. Outside, he just nods.

Kol follows him as he goes to fetch an air mattress and a blanket, and then one of his own pillows from his bed. He always sleeps with at least two in his bed. 

“You sure you wont miss it?” Kol teases as Kai hands it over. It makes Kai want to smack Kol over the head with said pillow. He doesn´t though. He just shakes his head, and watches as Kol throws it on the couch.

When everything for Kol to sleep in is set up, he turns to Kol again. 

“You hungry? I´ve got enough food for two so..” his voice trails off. Kol smiles, 

“Yeah, I haven´t eaten since I left New Orleans. I´ll help you cook, I´m quite the chef actually.”


	2. It´s the start of something, alright?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So how was it, being dead, and so getting back into the real world?” Kai asks. He´s been wanting to ask that for awhile. He wants to see if Kol´s felt the same as he did when he came back. Also, he wants to check how much Kol knows about his own current situation with the Gemini coven. Kol stops his movements, and looks up at Kai . There´s something distant in Kol´s eyes. 
> 
> “It was.. weird. People move on without you. You have to catch up all again. But it´s not the first time it´s happened,” Kol slowly explains.
> 
> “That wasn´t the first time you´ve died?” Kai asks, unable to hide the shock in his voice. Kol laughs a little before he answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two, yey! A tad longer, thankfully, than Chapter 1.

Kai wakes up early the next day. He isn´t dead, hasn´t been murdered in his sleep, so he guess that´s a plus. He can hear soft snores coming from his living room, which is just through his room door. He quietly slips out of bed, and wonders when he started worrying about not waking somebody up. 

It was either when he came back into the real world, or when he merged with his over emotional little brother. Or maybe just both. It´s weird anyways, he wouldn´t have given a single fuck before.

He quickly puts on the clothes from the day before, they are still completely clean and he can not be bothered to wash clothes. Then he tip toes to the door, before cracking it open as quiet as he can. He closes his eyes as the door creaks when he squeezes through it. He waits for the sound of Kol waking up and accusing him of being a freaking creep. But the silence continues, and Kai allows himself to open his eyes. He doesn´t move until he hears Kol´s snores continue.

He checks the clock on the wall. It´s only 7, but he has a habit of waking up early. Now that he´s back in the world which is filled with people and he´s got magic, he can´t waste too much time just sleeping. 

He walks over to the kitchen part of the room, before looking at Kol´s sleeping form again. He hopes Jo will be willing to help him, if not he will have to steal some spell books from her or Liv. He doubts it will please any of them, but he shouldn´t care. He´s made Kol a promise after all. Also, the witch who´s body Kol is riding will probably also be rather thankful to Kai for freeing him. 

He stops staring at Kol because he´s starting to kind of actually feel like a creep. It´s not that Kol isn´t anything.. worth looking at. Quite the opposite, in fact. The body Kol is possessing, it´s nice. But it´s Kol story, his soul, that actually makes Kai curious to what more Kol is hiding behind that smirk.

He can´t stop his thoughts from lingering on to Kol as he starts making breakfast. He´s never been much of a cook, but some scrambled eggs he can manage just fine. He tries to make as little sound as possible, but it´s hard to do when you´re making food. So he´s not surprised when Kol´s snores comes to a stop. Out of the corner of his eyes, Kai can see Kol slowly sitting up. The other boy has a serious case of bed hair. It makes Kai want to smile, but he doesn´t. He does not simply smile, especially not because of fondness over a boy he just met.

“Isn´t it like - in the middle of the night?” Kol asks, his voice raspy from sleeping. Kai snorts, 

“it´s 7 am, it´s morning. You know there´s people who gets up at 4 am to go to work, possible earlier? That´s literally the morning.” Kai turns just in time to see Kol roll his eyes. 

They accidentally start a staring contest. Kol´s eyes are filled with sleepiness, still beautiful though. Kai is actually enjoying it. He hasn´t gotten the chance to stare anyone down in way to long. The last person he stared down might´ve been Elena, and she doesn´t count.

Kol raises his eyebrows, and says without breaking the stare,

“Your eggs are burning.” 

Kai wonders for a second how much it will hurt to continue the stare, just so he can freaking win. But then it´s already starting to smell kinda burnt from the stove and “Fuck!” He turns around and gets the pan off. He can hear Kol laugh a little. It´s hallow, but it´s a laugh anyway. He can hear the other boy coming up to him from behind.

“Hm, looks like you were too late,” Kol murmurs. Kai sighs, because he knows Kol is right. He tosses the pan with the burnt eggs into the sink and huffs. When he turns around again, Kol is standing behind him. Almost so close that Kai knocks into him. That smug bastard is grinning.

“Why don´t we go out for breakfast? I´m sorry, but seems like you suck at cooking. This god forsaken town must have at least one spot to eat a decent breakfast at,” Kol suggests. Kai ignores the offence and wonders if that will count as a date. He hasn´t been on one in.. well he´s never actually been on a real date, not even before he was sent to that prison. The whole sociopath thing wasn´t too attractive to girls, or boys for the matter. He´s never really felt the need to date either. His mission to become the leader of the Gemini coven was always and still is, his number one priority.

“So, are you just going to disappear into your head all day?” Kol´s voice brings him out of his strain of thoughts. 

“What? Eh - no, lets go out,” his voice comes out like a stutter and he sounds like a freaking idiot.

“Great, just let me put some pants on and change my shirt,” Kol says with a grin before walking back to the couch. Kai wonders if the guy isn´t even going to brush his teeth, like, bad breath and all? 

He can´t help but stare as Kol puts his pants over his very bare legs and small ass. For once, he does appreciate this decades´s love for skinny jeans. 

“I should, uhm,” Kai starts while he continues his stare. Kol looks up from where he´s buttoning he´s jeans. 

“Hm?” Kol says while he zips it shut and buttons it. Then he starts to drag the shirt he´s slept in over his head and oh my god, Kai can feel a blush coming. Kol´s pale stomach is right there, and.. is that a hint of abs? 

“I need to, brush my teeth. Bad breath and all,” Kai mumbles. He follows with some weird gesticulations before he pretty much runs to the bathroom. He doesn´t even hear Kol´s answer. There he proceeds to try to keep his blush down, while also stabbing at his teeth with the toothbrush. Probably not something a dentist would recommend. Shortly after, when Kai has just finished rinsing his teeth and mouth, Kol shows up in the bathroom doorway.

Kai doesn´t know if he´s happy, or a little disappointed, that Kol now is completely dressed. Happy, Kai tries to force his mind to think. 

“I don´t have a toothbrush. I´ll have to buy one. Maybe today. So sorry beforehand about my bad breath, I´ll eat some gum or something,” Kol excuses. Great, now Kol thinks he´s some kind of neat teeth-brushing freak. Also, Kol didn´t seem to have much stuff with him at all. Maybe Kai has to take the guy on a little shopping trip. 

Kol leads the way to the door where they both get their jackets on in Kai´s small hallway. They bump their arms a few times and Kai ends up elbowing Kol in the face by accident. But in the end they manage to get dressed and walks down the stairs that leads out of Kai´s apartment in silence. There´s only a few other people outside. It´s only like half 8 or something anyway. 

“To be honest, I´m not too familiar with this town,” Kai says as they stand out on the street. Kol nods before he answers, 

“Me neither. I was, for some time. But then well, then I died.” 

Well. Kol doesn´t seem to be traumatised by the fact that he´s been dead. Actually, he seems to be enjoying the sun for once shining in Mystic Falls. The words seems to leave no impact on the man actually saying it. Kai doesn´t think it´s really appropriate to ask a guy about their death, it´s kinda.. personal. It´s not a usual situation. Even though his mind is full off curiosity about the details around Kol´s death, and his resurrection. 

The silence grows on them again, both just standing there. Fuck, why hadn´t he checked for some good food spots before going out? 

“Isn´t that a diner just down there?” Kol says. Kai lifts his eyes from the ground. Kol is pointing down the road and sure enough, there seems to be a sign advertising for a breakfast menu. Kol doesn´t even wait for an answer before starting to walk. Kai jogs to catch up with him seconds later.

It is a diner. A completely okay one. Not very fancy, but it´s Mystic Falls after all. It´s pretty much empty. There is just a few lone people at different tables all with their faces in their phones. 

“I´ll just order for us,” Kai says before walking up and ordering the first thing he sees - which ends up being pancakes. When he turns around, he sees Kol sitting by a table for two, just beside the windows. He walks over to it, and sits down on the other side of the table. Kol looks at him from where he´s been staring out the window.

“So how was it, being dead, and so getting back into the real world?” Kai asks. He´s been wanting to ask that for awhile. He wants to see if Kol´s felt the same as he did when he came back. Also, he wants to check how much Kol knows about his own current situation with the Gemini coven. Kol stops his movements, and looks up at Kai . There´s something distant in Kol´s eyes. 

“It was.. weird. People move on without you. You have to catch up all again. But it´s not the first time it´s happened,” Kol slowly explains.

“That wasn´t the first time you´ve died?” Kai asks, unable to hide the shock in his voice. Kol laughs a little before he answers.

“Not really. Nicklaus, my uhm, half-brother.. well. The Original vampires can only be killed by a stake made from the white oak. But we can be.. put to sleep. Meaning, a silver dagger to the heart and we´re temporary dead until someone drags said dagger out. It´s kinda of like, being asleep. Nic used it to control us. He could leave us with that dagger in our chest for centuries at a time.”

“And with us, you mean..” Kai looks unsure at Kol. The story was, weird. If it had been him, he would´ve killed Klaus the second he got the chance. 

“Me, my two older brothers and also my younger sister. The ones he uhm.. daggered.. the most was me and my oldest brother Finn. I had barely been awake after like 90 years of sleep when Jeremy killed me with the white oak stake,” Kol continues on his story. 

“Anyway. It took some time getting used to all these new gadgets and electronics, but then again - I´ve always loved experiencing new things. I´m just happy to be you know, back on earth again,” The look Kol shoots Kai as he finishes his sentence makes butterflies fly in Kai´s stomach. Wait, what?

“Yeah, like how cool isn´t all these new phones?!” Kai says and reaches for his phone that´s planted in his jacket pocket. “They are so big!” he continues as he gets his smart phone out. Kol laughs a little before he answers, 

“Dude, I was excited about that too.”

The young waitress walks over with their pancakes, smiling at them. Oh, if she only knew what kind of people she was serving. 

They both dig in. Kai feels like food has gotten better ever since he came back, or maybe it´s just because he´s always been and still is a terrible cook. The eggs from this morning having proved just that. It wasn´t the best thing to be bad at when you´re the only guy stuck in a prison worlds for years on end. 

“So.. how much do you know about well, me?” Kai asks as they eat. Kol lowers his fork down to the plate, and looks up at him. There´s a hint of confusion in his eyes. Maybe he hadn´t suspected the question so early. But Kai have never been one to beat around the bush.

“I know that you somehow manage to break out of a prison world, something that is supposed to be impossible. I don´t know exactly what you did to be put in there. Probably something rather terrible since it was your own family who sent you in there..” Kol answers. He´s watching Kai´s every move. Most likely afraid of Kai´s reaction. And well, Kai is known for being rather.. unstable, at times.

Kai nods and looks down at his own food. 

“I also know that you´re rather powerful, after merging with your younger brother. Also, you´re the leader of the gemini coven which I assume give you even more powers?” the last of Kol´s sentence is more formed as a question. Kai just nods.

“That´s about it,” Kai says when it looks like Kol has nothing more to say, “lets get back to eathing shall we? Don´t want it all to go cold,” he says and grins. Kol nods, and they both go back to their half-eaten food.

While they are eating, Kol moans as he takes a taste off the scrambled eggs. Kai tries not to think how hot it sounds. It´s kinda hard though, since his ears are well functioning and Kol isn´t exactly trying to be quiet. He tries to suppress the dangerous thoughts that suddenly fills his head by showing food into his mouth. Kol though, looks to be liking it. Or he´s just very, very, oblivious. Kai s about to take yet another big bite to stuff his mouth when he hears the bell over the door ring. He looks up, and he freezes. 

It´s Alaric.

The man have yet to see them, as he comes walking in. He looks tired, but happy. Kai can hear him ordering take away breakfast for two. For him and Jo, most likely. 

“What´s wrong?” Kol asks. Kai breaks his stare at Alaric and looks back at Kol, 

“Alaric Saltzman - my sisters fiancee,” Kai informs him. Kol´s eyes widen, as he too looks over at Alaric. 

“Don´t look you-“ Kai hisses and turns to look himself again only to see Alaric walking over to them. Kai´s sentence dies on his lips. Alaric´s face is like stone, but Kai´s pretty sure he isn´t walking over just to say hi.

“Kai, what are you doing here?” Alaric says and he sounds both angry and a little fed up, to be honest. 

“I´m sorry, where does it say No Kai Allowed In here? Oh yeah, no where,” Kai answers and does his best fake grin back. Kol chuckles a little. Wow. Yes. Back up!

“But if you really need to know we,” he says with a sigh and takes a pause to gesticulate at Kol, “are having breakfast.” 

“Kai´s a terrible cook,” Kol quickly adds. 

“Uhm, who are you?” Alaric asks as he turns to Kol. Kai snorts, rude much? Does adults nowadays have no manners when they meet new people? he wonders.

“He´s Ko-“ Kai starts, but Kol is for some reason quick to interrupt him.

“Kaleb, I´m Kaleb, I´m just visiting from.. Seattle,” Kol explains, shooting Kai a subtle look. It looks like he´s trying to tell Kai something with it, but Kol is apparently really bad at this secret language thing. Kai just gives him his best subtle but confused look back. 

“Ookay..” Alaric says, and doesn´t look like he believes anything at all, “Why-“

Before Alaric can question them anymore, Kol does something completely wild. He freaking grabs Kai´s hand over the table, cradling it in his own. Kai can just concentrate on not letting his whole damn mouth fall open like on a fish.

“We´re on a date!” Kol then claims excited. Alaric´s face is priceless. If Kai wasn´t busy FREAKING OUT he would´ve tried to snap a picture of said face and frame it. Maybe even mail a copy to Alaric and Jo. Whatever he manages to do once the shock wears off. For now, he can only stare with wide eyes at Kol. Because where the hell did that come from?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So since I am still writing this fic - I am fully open for ideas/prompts/anything really towards the fic. For example sidepairins or things you would like to see happening! Comment or just send me an ask on tumblr (whatevenkol.tumblr.com/ask)
> 
> Thanks so so much for reading!!


	3. A Honest Mess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kol expresses himself and things get a tad more worrying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slow, slow, updating. Things are crazy busy at my house, since my older sister is getting married. Hopefully it wont be too long until next update - BUT I don´t actualy know when that will be. I´ve tried to get this up 3 days in a row, but always had to abandon the project. But yeah at least it´s up now.

“Alaric, if you don´t mind - we´d like to be alone,” Kai manages to press out before Kol can continue to say any more weird stuff. On a date? What the hell? Not that he nesecarry wouldn´t like that but seriously, they met yesterday.

Alaric though looks too shocked to say anything. The man just turns on his heels and stomps out of the diner, grabbing the food of the counter on the way out.

“What the hell was that?” Kai hisses, his hand gripping Kol´s with all the force he can muster so Kol can´t get loose.

“He didn´t believe me! I needed to say something crazy! And anyway, he left us alone didn´t he?” Kol quickly argues, and winces when Kai squeezes even harder.

“I do not go on dates! He´ll tell my sister! They are going to think I´m tricking you into this!” Kai hisses at the other warlock.

Kol is still wincing, biting his lip and trying to drag his hand free.

“I can explain to him that it was a joke ok? We´ll go over to your sisters and I´ll say ‘haha it was a joke got you or something’, just please let go of my hand,” Kol rambles on.

Kai sighs, but let go of Kol´s hand. The warmth from it is still lingering on his own hand.

“You pride yourself with being such a genius with magic, why didn´t you just use that to get loose?” Kai asks, grinning at Kol.

Kol is cradling his own hand to his chest, and Kai can see the taint of red fills his cheeks as Kai taunts him. Kai feels rather proud, beating Kol in his own came. Kai can see the murmurs of a spell on the other boy’s lips. He can´t hear any words being said though, much less figure out the words. Kai wonders if he should run. Maybe Kol is doing some spell that will blast him to the other side of the country? But he´s come to trust Kol. And if Kai remembers right Kol needs him to get his real body back. But still.. he doesn´t really know Kol. At all. But then Kol lets his hand fall down. When Kai looks at it, the hand looks good as new.

So Kol was doing a healing spell, apparently.

“Thanks for not insisting on telling him who I am. I don´t remember if I ever met him, but he´s close friends with people I may have angered a tad. He´s probably heard about me from them - and I doubt it was any good things,” Kol says. He´s actually sounding more sincere than ever. Kai thinks for a second about bringing up the not-using-magic fail from earlier. But then again he´d rather get the truth about something else he´s been wondering about.

And that thought is about what exactly Kol did in Mystic Falls. Must be something bad, since it made so many people angry and forced Jeremy to kill the guy.

“I tried to stop them from raising Silas,” Kol explains obviously haven understood what Kai was thinking. “I wanted to chop of Jeremy Gilbert´s arms, so they wouldn´t get the map to find the cure for vampirism. The cure was buried together with Silas. I knew that shit would go done if they raised him,” he continues. Kai raises an eyebrow, trying to kill Jeremy - that´s brave. With Elena being as protective as she is, and with the Salvatore´s around her little finger…well. Kol takes a deep breath. Kai wonders if the guy is looking a little bit pale. But that thought is soon whisked away as Kol continues talking.

“And let´s just say I wasn´t exactly friendly before that either. I was a vampire, just brought back from a comatose state. I had been like that for over a century. I was looking for an outlet for my anger, and the hunger…I can´t explain it. It takes over all of you. It controls your emotions and can provoke your reactions..” Kol has a distant look in his eyes now. Like he´s not actually there, too far into his own memories.

“I believed my siblings wouldn´t care if I lived or died, that Klaus was in on the plan to kill me for good. And Silas, god I was terrified of him. Over the years of my travels I´ve met a lot of witches and warlocks and those who knew of Silas also knew about how dangerous he was.”

Even Kai has heard about Silas. It was part of the magic one on one his parents forced on him and his siblings when they were kids. Not that Kai got much from that, seeing as his parents didn´t bother much to try when they discovered he couldn’t do magic on his own. His attention gets brought back to Kol when the other warlock continues talking.

“I did everything I could not to let them raise him. So they planned to murder me. Elena tricked me, invited me in and made me think she wanted truce. I, of course, denied any kind of truce shortly after. I trust no one. But I was driven by my fear of Silas. They tried to keep me out, but I forced myself in there and chased them down. I was about to cut off Jeremy´s arms when Elena in some miraculous way managed to sneak up on me. They threw vervain on me, and then Jeremy got the white oak stake from me and stabbed me. It was idiotic of me to keep it on me. And then, I was dead.”

“Wow,” is all Kai can think of to say as Kol finishes his tale. Kol just laughs a little, and eats the last of his pancake. Kai look down at his plate, he´s already eaten every last crumb of his own while Kol was talking.

“Was your…I mean, was Klaus really in on it?” Kai asks. Suddenly wondering if Kai has more in common with Kol´s brother than Kol himself. Kol shakes his head before speaking a single word.

“No.”

They sit in silence for a while. Kai doesn´t know what else to say - to ask. He doesn´t want to pry too much. He´s not completely rude after all.

“Maybe we should get going,” Kai finally suggests as Kol pushes the plate away from him. Kol nods as an answer. Kai jumps up and goes over to the cashier to pay. Kol shows up behind him not much later.

“I could´ve paid for myself you know,” the other witch comments as he looks at Kai´s receipt. Kai doesn´t answer. He just turns around, and starts walking to the door. Kol doesn´t wait long to follow.

“Yeah, well you can pay back by explaining to my sister and Alaric that we were in fact not on a date,” Kai states as he pushes the door open. Once again he´s out in the free air of Mystic Falls. Kol just chuckles. It goes a little on Kai´s nerves.

“Wait, we´re going there now? I like-“ Kol starts, his face confused as he grabs Kai´s arm. Kai sighs, and nods as they come to a stop on the sidewalk.

“Yeah, I need her help if we´re going to figure out the body-jumping spell. She has a grimoire and stuff. And also, perfect time for you to explain yourself to Alaric,” Kai states.

Kol stares at him, before letting out a defeated sigh.

“Just, let’s have them believe my name is Kaleb. I´d rather not have them know I´m, well, me,” Kol slowly asks. Kai nods as an answer and starts walking down the street again. He´s memorized the way to Jo´s and Alaric´s house in his head by now.

Kol follows a few steps behind him. The whole way there, that´s the way they walk. Only when they get up to the apartment door, Kol comes and stands beside him. He wonders what Kol is thinking.

Kai quickly knocks on the door. He pretends not to notice that Kol is practically leaning on his shoulder, for some weird reason. Thankfully Jo doesn’t take too long to open the door. The pregnant belly is still not too visible.

“Kai-“ her face is surprised, and far from happy. “Hi sis,” he says and tries to pull his best smile. His sister just continues to frown at him, “who’s your friend?” she asks and nods at Kol.

“Kaleb,” Kol quickly answers and puts his hand up for a handsake. Jo stares at it for a second, unsure. Suddenly, she seems to come to a realization. Kol gives up, and lowers his hand.

“Oh – you’re the guy Alaric mentioned meeting...” Jo says staring from one warlock to the other. Kol nods and Kai elbows him in the stomach.

Jo is still frowning as Alaric appears behind her. Kol let his hand awkwardly fall down beside him again.

“What are you doing here?” Alaric asks. His face is angry as he puts a protective arm around Jo. Kai resist the urge to roll his eyes.

“We need help,” Kai says. Both Alaric and Jo looks confused under their big frownie faces.

“I, need help,” Kol quickly corrects him.

“You know, Kai. You said last time that you would be out of our lives... I don´t want anything to do with you,” Jo starts and starts gripping for the door.

And just then, like a sign from the gods – Kol’s nose starts bleeding.

That seems to be enough to get Jo and Alaric curious. Or maybe they just didn’t want blood on the doormat. They seemed to have cleaned it after Kai’s last visit.

Jo lets go of the door and grabs Kol instead. She then quickly leads him into their kitchen, where she forces him to sit up on the bench just like she had with Kai.

“I’m not your personal doctor you know, there is a lot of good hospitals around,” she says looking at Kai.

“But you’re so good at it,” Kai whines. Kol smiles a little.

“Plus, this is a witch problem!” Kai explains grinning at Kol who’s looking rather embarrassed. Jo raises an eyebrow and commands Alaric to “get her stuff.”

“So you two... Alaric said you were, uhm... on a date?” Jo asks as they wait for Alaric. It sounds ridiculous. Kai glares at Kol. Now is the perfect opportunity for him to confess the “truth”. To say it was a joke. But Kol remains silent, even with how hard Kai glares at the guy Kol pretends not to notice. Kai is tempted to use magic and just throw the guy across the room and out the window.

But he doubts Jo and Alaric will be happy with him murdering some guy in their kitchen – or technically outside their kitchen. Also, they will most likely force him to pay for the broken window.

“It was a joke,” Kai ends up saying. Kol rolls his eyes when Jo turns around to look at her brother.

“A joke?” she asks.

“Yeah, Ko, uhm, Kaleb, just wanted to mess with you. We´re not dating,” Kai explains. And there is that frown on Jo’s face again,

“hm,” she says. That does not sound good. Hm, does not mean ‘haha, I understand’. ‘Hm’, means ‘I don’t know what to answer cause I’m not quite sure what to think’ or ‘What to believe’.

Alaric enters the kitchen with his arms filled with medical supplies. Jo shoots him a look at his full arms, “I don’t know what you needed!” he excuses as he lays them on the kitchen table. One of the bottles rolling down onto the floor. Kai reaches down to grab it, but Jo´s voice interrupts his action.

“Kai, can I talk to you for a second? Before I start figuring what’s wrong with this guy,” Jo says and puts the stuff she’s been sorting down. Her voice is weird. Kol shoots Kai a confused look, but Kai can’t do anything but nod. If he refused, that would be weird. Jo and Alaric would be even more suspicious.

He doesn’t miss the look Jo sends Alaric as Jo leads him into the living room.

“Kai, who is this guy and what are you using him for?” Jo asks as she pushes him down on the sofa. Kol is tempted to show her just how much she can push him, but it’s not fair to hurt someone who’s pregnant. At least not for a simple thing like this. Like, even he knows that.

“I am not using him for anything!” Kai protests back.

“Then why is he here? Who is he?” Jo puts her hands on her hips. Even without her magic, Kai is kind of scared of what she can do.

“He showed up at my place and needed help.”

“And you just… decided to be helpful?” Jo honestly looks done with everything. She probably is.

“I’m good now!” Kai claims.

“Not THAT good, you wouldn’t help someone if they didn’t give you anything back,” Jo states. And ok, that’s true. She’s got him. But he promised not to tell them that Kol is Kol, and not actually Kaleb. Jo will most likely not like that Kol have stolen someone’s body. And that Kol is all ready to leave said body just because he wants his original back.

“Ok, he’s a powerful witch…” Kai starts. Jo stares at him with a death glare as he continues “-With a lot of knowledge. He said he would owe me a big favor if I helped save him.”

Jo looks at him, before she nods. Kai resists the urge to breathe out in relief.

“What is actually wrong with him?” she says and sits down in a chair.

Kai bites his lip, “I don´t know. He haven´t said it. I didn´t think it was anything serious. Just that he wanted to uhm… body jump.” She doesn´t need to know that Kol has body jumped before. Or that he´s been killed by Jeremy and Elena and that he´s now resurrected. Jo suddenly looks very wary again.

“Body jump?” Jo asks. Kai is about to wreck his brain for an answer when someone yells.

“JO!” Alaric screams. He sounds alarmed, and actually scared. Both Kai and Jo jump up from where they are sitting and run to the kitchen. Kol is laying face forward on Alaric, unconscious, with blood pooling out of his mouth. A rather big puddle has already formed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to goodchemicalplan.tumblr.com for helping me editing and listening to my rambles! You can also find me on tumblr under the url whatevenkol.tumblr.com (theres also an askbox on there if you want to contact me).
> 
> Until next time (which might be a bit time away) x


	4. I think about the End just way too much

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I´m so sorry for the delayed update. I´ve been busy and to be honest, I have not felt like writing or editing at all. BUT its here now! At least you get a longer chapter than usual! 
> 
> Thanks to all of you how have read this story this far, and who have given kudos! It makes me so happy! 
> 
> So yeah, enjoy!

“Okay, we need to do something now!” Jo commands and helps Alaric lay Kol out on the bench. 

“Hold him in place, I have to get one of my books! Try to wake him up. I don´t know what the hell is wrong with him,” she yells. Before even checking that Kai and Alaric are doing as she said, she hurries out of the room. 

Alaric and Kai stares at each other from where they are standing on different sides of the counter island. Kol is horribly still. Blood is running from the corner of his mouth and dropping onto the counter’ surface.

“What the hell is going on with this guy?!” Alaric asks, his brows furrowed and his face turned into a frown. Is that- worry, in his eyes? 

“Maybe something went wrong with the body- some spell,” Kai suggests almost spilling the beans about Kol´s previous body-jumping. “- or maybe some witch is angry at him?” Alaric´s frown deepens even more.

“It doesn´t look like he´s awake,” Alaric murmurs and taps Kol´s cheek. The warlocks head falls to the side. Ok, that is kinda worrying. Kai bites his lip, a weird feeling filling his stomach. A pit in the very bottom of it, worry? 

“Kaleb, can you hear me?” Alaric asks, lightly shaking Kol´s shoulders. There´s no response. Just blood getting smeared over Kol´s whole face when Alaric taps his cheek again. Kai feels…a little useless. There´s really no magic that can make someone wake up. Not any that he can think of at least. Maybe he should have used more of his time in the prison world studying magic. But back then he didn´t believe he would ever have magic again. Let alone escape the prison world, and have magic at all times like a normal warlock.

He looks at the door Jo left through, he can hear her rummaging through stuff in the living room. Alaric is still trying to shake Kol awake, but it doesn´t seem to be helping too much. All he´s gotten from Kol is a pained groan. Kai can only stand and look. He knows nothing about medical witchy stuff. 

Finally Jo comes running into the kitchen again, an old book in her hands. She pretty much throws it on the counter besides Kol´s feet and furiously starts searching through it. Her eyes frantically scanning the pages. Dust flies up from it and she turns the pages. Kol is completely still again. Alaric continues to try and get him to wake up.

“HERE!” Jo yells and shows Kai the book. It´s a big spell, which will take a lot of magic. 

“Do you know if Kol has used any big life altering spell on himself before this?” she asks. Kol nods as fast as he can as confirmation. It´s literally life and death, Kai can risk telling Jo about the body-jumping if she has to know. Jo continues talking, her words coming out fast and stressed.

“I think that there´s something wrong with an earlier spell that´s been used on him.. It´s dying out, or something. So this spell,” she points at the spell in the book “-is meant to make another spell last longer, or to draw it out at least. It´s quite big, so meant for two or more people. But we´ve only got you so for now that will have to do. We don´t have time to find someone else who will be willing to help,” Jo explains.

“Now take Kol´s hand,” she commands and stares at Kai. Kai looks at his sister in disbelief,   
“Uh, I´m not– “ he starts but Jo is quicker and interrupts him before he can get any further with his refusal.

“Kai, do you want to save this boy or not?!” she yells at him. He can see the anger in his sister’s eyes. He feels a blush creeping up his neck. But he´s not a coward.   
He takes a deep breath, and grabs one of Kai´s hand with both of his own.

“His hand is so cold,” Kai comments without even thinking. Jo frowns, and puts her hand on Kol´s neck. She puts two fingers on his neck where the pulse is supposed to be. She goes pale.   
“His pulse is weak. We need to do this spell right now. Alaric – “ Alaric looks up at his fiancée. “Hold the book up for Kai, so he can get the words right. Kai, you need to concentrate. I mean really, really concentrate. This is very risky if done wrong.” 

Kai nods, and Alaric grabs the book and starts holding it so Kai have no problems reading it.

Kai starts muttering the words. He can feel the magic flow in him. Through him. He can feel the strain that the spell is already taking on him as his words become clearer, stronger. He has to close his eyes to gain full concentration. He can feel Alaric and Jo´s vary looks on him. He´s using all the magic he can find buried within him. Every ounce of magic stored away. His words are coming fast and harsh and Jo is saying something but he can´t quite catch what. He´s pretty much yelling now.

He can taste the blood in his mouth, his nose is running. That´s not a good sign. Before the merge he would have stopped long before now. It´s dangerous. He´s pressing his body for more magic then it can take. For more magic than he actually has. People have died because they pushed their body too much. The words are still coming out faster than ever from his mouth. Like an endless mantra. He barely has to think about saying the words. He hopes the spell is working and that he didn´t do all this for nothing. For Kol to just die. That would be annoying.

He can hear that his words are becoming weaker. He feels so drained. So tired. His head is hurting and he can´t ignore the metallic taste in his mouth now. He feels like he´s going to vomit. He presses himself to finish. He never does anything half-way.   
But god, he feels so tired. Jo´s voice is just a faint sound as he feels himself slipping.

 

-

 

“You awake?” Kai recognises the voice as Kol´s. He cracks his eyes open. He quickly shuts them again though, as the light streams into his eyes from a window. 

“Ugh,” he groans. Kol chuckles. 

“Glad to see you aren´t dead,” Kol comments. There´s something like fondness in his voice. Kai´s stomach does a double take. It seems like Kol hears it in his own voice too, as he continues his sentence with “-cause I still need your magic to get me out of this body so.”

It´s all a beat to late, and Kai has to hold back a grin.

He finally bothers to try and open his eyes again, this time not as fast as before to let his eyes get adjusted to the light. It still feels like his eyes are burning though. Kol is sitting in a chair on the other side of a coffee table when Kai looks over. He realises quick that they still are in Jo and Alaric´s apartment. Either they are ok with them staying or Kol have done something with them. There´s no blood in sight though, but still..

Kol must´ve seen his alarmed face, as he sighs and says “Jo and Alaric are in the kitchen. I think they are trying to wash away my blood. They didn´t want me to do it with magic, for some reason.”

Well. At least they aren´t dead.

He tires to sit up but his vision blurs, and he has to put a hand on the coffee table not to fall over in the couch. His head is pounding. God, it feels like a bad hangover. 

“You okay?” Kai feels like his heart might jump out of his chest at Kol´s voice being so near. Kol has moved from the coffee table to the couch in what seems like seconds.

“Don´t do that!” he yells before he can even think about it and glares at Kol who´s now standing over him. He winces at his own loud words. Kol just grins a little at him. 

Kai pushes himself up on his feet, and mumbles a few swears under his breath as he has to steady himself on Kol. The whole time Kai´s vision is spinning like he´s in a damn carousel. Kol is still freaking grinning at him. When his vision stops swimming, Kai can finally take a good look at Kol. He´s glad to see that Kol´s face is no longer smeared with blood. The guy is a little pale, but he doesn´t look quite as much as death as he had down earlier. Kai lets his hand fall from Kol´s shoulder, finally trusting himself to stand up without help. 

“You owe me like, a lot now,” Kai states. Kol looks confused, 

“What do you mean?” he asks. Now it´s Kai´s turn to grin at the other boy. 

“If I hadn´t saved you in there, I imagine you would be quite dead about now. I risked my life for you! I could´ve died! The spell was way to big for one person, and yet I did it. I think that gives me the right for more than one favour,” Kai claims.

“I guess a deal can be arranged,” Kol says with a dirty smirk on his face. That´s way too sexual for Kai to even start to think about right now. If he does, well.. he might not make it through the day with all his clothes on - and neither will Kol. And with that face ? Kol knows exactly what he is doing.

“In all seriousness though,” Kol says. The smirk on his face is gone and replaced by one of the most honest smiles Kai has seen on the guy. “Thank you for saving my life.”   
Kai just nods, he doesn´t know what to say. He isn´t used to people thanking him. He´s the evil one. The villain in the tragic story of the Parker family. People doesn´t thank him. Usually because he never does anything that deserves a thanks. It´s a new situation for him.

“I wouldn´t gain anything out of this deal if I just let you die. Plus, I do not wanna deal with your siblings coming knocking on my door furious for letting you die.”

Kol´s face turns guarded, closed off, when Kai mentions his siblings. He´s hit a weak spot in Kol´s usually calm and collected facade. Kai saves it in his imaginary notebook. Weak spots are always important to remember for the future. You never know when they might be useful. 

“How long was I out?” Kai asks, changing the theme of the conversation. He doesn´t feel like poking Kol´s sensitive spots more than necessary right now. The guy was pretty much half dead on a kitchen bench not too long ago and Kai is still vary of him. The Mikaelson siblings are known to have quite the temper. 

“Around a day,” Kol replies. Kai feels like he might fall over again. A day? He looks out the window. He was sure it had only been a few hours. 

“You´re kidding me?” Kai says, but it comes out more like a question. Kol shakes his head, and he´s not smiling. There´s not a single sign of Kol joking. 

“A whole day? That´s crazy!” Kai says and shakes his head over the whole thing.

“Well, as you said, you nearly died. I´m surprised you woke up this early. Honestly, I feel quite honoured that you did that for me,” Kol says another smirk forming on his face again. That ass.

“I was just protecting my end of the deal, as I explained earlier.” Even Kai can hear that his words doesn´t sound convincing. Kol just smiles a little smile, like he knows something but isn´t saying it. 

He´s about to go to check on Alaric and Jo, just be to sure that they are in fact alive. But just as he thinks about it, the two comes walking through the door. He wonders if it´s relief he sees in Jo´s eyes when she spots him, but he doubts it. What would she be relived about? The only thing could be that she´s happy Kol isn´t their problem anymore. Or that they doesn´t have to worry about burying a body. Or two. 

“You´re awake,” Jo says. Alaric puts a protective arm around her. What is Alaric worried will happen? Kai feels exhausted just by standing up on his two feet, and Kol doesn´t look much better than Kai feels.

“The spell, I take it worked?” Kai asks. Jo nods at him before she looks over at Kol.

“We´ve given you some time, but you´re still.. dying. And I´m sorry but I won´t help you body-jump. I can´t help someone take over some innocent´s person´s life. Even if it means.. you will die.” Jo explains. She was never one to beat around the bush. Kol pales even more. Kai feels his heart skip a beat. Kol´s dying? What. That would answer the question why Kol is so eager to body-jump.

“Well, it´s not sure that he will die..” Kai starts, and Jo snaps around to look at him.

“What do you mean?” She asks, her lips turning into a thin line. Kol is shaking his head at Kai. 

“We´re both warlocks. We probably don´t need your spell books to body-jump him back. Most likely, we can do it on our own,” Kai explains, smiling at his sister as her mouth falls open. Maybe if he challenges her, Jo´s competitive side will come forward. Jo was never one to step down when she knows she has the upper hand.

But Jo´s face is still weird, even Alaric looks a little confused. Kai wonders for a second what he´s said wrong. But then his eyes meet Kol´s. They are wide, and surprised. Kai thinks back on his words. 

Body-jump him.. back.. oops. 

“BACK? You mean.. he´s - this guy, it´s not, he´s possessing this body already?!” Jo asks, her voice harsh and full of anger. Alaric tenses beside her. Kai nods at his sister. No point in trying to get out of the lie. They all heard what he said. 

Before he knows it Jo is reaching out and grabbing Kai´s arm. Her grip is so tight it hurts but Kai can´t be bothered with angering both her and Alaric with using magic to make her let go.

“Who the hell is he then?” Jo asks. Her voice is demanding, and her brow furrows. Kai stares straight into his sisters eyes. The thought that maybe this wasn´t his best idea, plays in his head. Maybe it would´ve been easier to try and continue the lie.

“We´ve already gone over that, his name is Kaleb,” Kai reminds her. Jo finally let´s go of his arm, but the relief is short lived cause she only lets go to hit him with a flat hand over the face. The sound echoes into the room. Kai winces. He swear he hears Kol chuckle. Turns out, Jo heard it too.  
“This isn´t anything to laugh at!” she yells and turns around to face Kol. His smile falls in seconds, a now serious expression on his face. His sister can be rather terrifying when she´s angry. 

“Be honest with me now, or god knows I will end you, who´s body is that?” Jo snaps and points at Kol. Kol bites his lips, and looks unsure. Kai can almost see the wheels turning in his head. Kol takes a deep breath before answering  
.  
“I don´t know.” It´s a simple lie, but both Kai and Kol knows how to keep their masks. Kai haven´t actually thought about asking Kol who he is possessing before now. He will have to do that later, when theres no Jo or Alaric or anyone else for the matter that can hear.

“How can you not know?” Jo argues, her voice still angry. Kol sighs. 

“I wasn´t the one who put myself in here. Someone else did,” he explains. Kai stares at him from behind Jo. Their eyes meet. If Kai didn´t know any better, he would actually believe the guy. And anyway, it´s partial the truth. Kol wasn´t the one to chose the body, thought he probably is aware of who´s body he´s currently possessing. 

“Was it same person who literally hexed you to death. And is that the reason you´re dying? Did the person do anything wrong when doing the body-jumping spell? Or did someone try to kill you on purpose?” Jo questions. It´s obvious she´s unsure about the whole deal. She´s never been naive. 

Kai looks over at Alaric, he doesn´t look sure either. Almost like Alaric can feel Kai looking at him, he turns his head. Their eyes meets for a few second. The irritation and confusion in Alaric´s eyes are obvious.

Kol shakes his shoulders, “kinda.” Kai himself has no idea what to say. Truth be told, he´s wondering the same things as Jo. Kol hasn´t said anything about how he got into this whole mess. 

“Kinda? What does that even mean?” Jo asks, and puts her hands on her hip. 

“Is this an interrogation?” Kol asks. He´s standing with his arms crossed, in a defensive pose. Maybe he´s starting to get tired off the endless questions from Jo. Jo´s eyes snap to look at Kol. Kai tries his best to catch Kol´s eyes. Maybe he can somehow tell Kol that he should just go with it. Or at least come up with a damn god lie. Starting a fight with his sister is not a good idea right now.

“I´m not helping you guys anymore,” Jo states. Her whole body radiating with anger. Kai rolls his eyes, and now finally Kol meets his eyes. Kol smiles apologetic, but not in any way does it look like he regrets being an asshole. 

“I think it´s time you go,” Jo says and turns around to look at Kai. Her eyes are angry, but Kai can see the curiosity in them. She´s most likely dying to know Kol´s secrets. Jo have always been funny that way. 

“Did you not hear her? Get out,” Alaric demands, finally taking a stand. Kol sighs, but starts walking towards the door. Kai follows behind. He comes to a stop in the doorway, where he turns around to look at his sister and Alaric to say goodbye. He hears Kol walk down the stairs to the front door of the apartment complex.

“I doubt it will be long until we meet again, bye sissy!” Kai calls before he slams the door shut behind him. He then follows Kol down the stairs without hesitation.  
Kol is leaning against the wall just outside when Kai walks out the door. He pushes himself off the wall when Kai walks up to him.   
“Well, it could´ve gone worse,” Kol says. Kai sighs,

“Why couldn´t you just answer her questions? You just lost us the best ex-witch I was sure would help us!” Kai complains. Kol laughs a little before he starts his explanation.

“She was vary the second we entered. I don´t trust her at all. The whole time you were out cold she kept throwing you these glances. Like she was afraid you would wake up and kill her if she turned her back only for a second,” Kol says. Kai can´t look him in the eyes. If it had been before the merge, Kai would probably to it. He had been earning to kill Jo since, well - forever. Now.. well. He´s not sure anymore. 

"She also locked me in the living room with you when she and Alaric went out. I think she thought I didn´t notice,” Kol continues,"I think she forgot I could use a spell to open the door if I really wanted to get out."

Kai doesn´t know how he feels about Kol having been alone with his unconscious body. 

“Don´t worry. I didn´t do anything creepy with your body,” Kol says. But then he smirks in a way that makes Kai belief in Kol decline dramatically. Kai feels his face fall into a shocked expression, and Kol laughs. A few people passing by stares at them. Kai responds with glaring at their backs. 

Kai is about to demand the truth, when the phone in Kol´s pocket starts calling. Kol fishes the phone out in seconds, and proceeds to frown at the screen.  
“It´s my sister,” he explains Kai before answering the phone.

Kai watches as Kol answers the phone with a “Hello darling!”. Kol´s voice is completely changed from seconds ago. It sounds fake, Kai realises. It´s more guarded then usually.   
“I told you I was going to Mystic Falls,” Kol says into the phone with a sigh following it. “I found the guy I talked about. We..” Kol looks over at Kai who isn´t even trying to pretend he´s not listening. “We came to an agreement,” Kol says at last. The girl on the phone is not finished speaking though, and Kol is quiet for a long time. Kai assumes his sister is ranting about something, as he can hear the faint sound of a girl voice going on and on. He can´t make out the words though.

“No!” Kol´s sudden voice snaps Kai out of the little trance he had fallen into while waiting for Kol. His face is serious and he´s frowning as he disagrees with his sister. Kai can´t help but stare at him.

“Don´t Beks, there no reas- No, just stay in, I mean it, Beks! They need you ther, Bekah I-“ Kol sighs defeated as he puts his phone down. Kai can hear the dial tone from where he´s standing. 

Kol sighs, "damn it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully the next update wont be too far away. But I can´t promise when. I´m moving away and starting a new school next week, so I will probably be busy.
> 
> As always you can hit me up on tumblr; whatevenkol.tumblr.com
> 
> Kudos and comments are always always appreciated.


	5. To you tear yourself apart?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kol and Kai get to know each other even more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so.. hi. I´m sorry for not updating. So here, have a list of what I´ve been busy doing; 1. school 2. piles of homework 3. laying in bed and 4. laying in bed having multiple existential crises´
> 
> :)
> 
> Hope you enjoy the new (longer than usual!) chapter!

“She hung up on me. She´s so stubborn,” Kol explains looking irritated. Kai nods, and bites his tongue so he wont make a comment that it must be a sibling trait.

Instead he asks “What did she want?”

Kol bites his lip, obviously thinking if he should tell or not. 

“She´s coming here. Wanted to help, I guess,” Kol confesses. Kai nods, but he doesn´t understand why Kol was unsure if he should say it or not. Kai never had a good relationship with any of his siblings, but he guess even ex-original vampires can have somewhat of a good relationship with their siblings.

“She´s a vampire right?” Kai asks as they start walking towards Kai´s apartment. Kol shakes his head and Kai looks confused at him.

“No, uhm, she´s a witch. She´s body-jumped. It´s a long story,” Kol explains. Kai cant help but laugh.

“Is anyone in your family in their original bodies?” he jokes. It earns him a laugh from Kol, and it makes Kai himself smile. It´s nice to hear Kol laughing a genuine laughter, and not some faked or sarcastic. 

They chatter back and forth on the way to Kai´s apartment. It´s surprisingly easy. Kai knows Kol isn´t afraid of him, and for once it doesn´t irritate him as much as it usually does. Maybe it´s because he isn´t afraid of Kol either. It´s weird. Even if he doesn´t trust Kol a hundred precent, he trust him enough to actually enjoy the time their spending together.

But the fact that Kol is dying is painfully obvious. It paints everything in a grim way. Now and then Kol stumbles when he walks, and he breaths like he´s just run a mile. There´s a rasping rattling coming from his chest, like his lungs are crying whenever Kol takes breath. They have to walk slow, so Kol can actually manage to get his feet to take another step. The drastic change in just two days are worrying. Kol´s health is getting worse and worse, way to fast.

“I hate this,” Kol sighs when they finally gets through Kai´s apartment door. The stairs up to the apartment was more like a mountain hike for Kol Kai watches as the warlock falls down on the couch, without even taking his jacket or shoes off. Kai just looks at him. He can´t find the right words. Cause what are you really supposed to say? He would hate it too, if he was in Kol´s position. 

“I didn´t come back to life, only to feel like death again,” Kol continues with a sad frown on his face. Kai feels useless, again. He´s not used to taking care of people. He´s not used to care at all. What do you say to people who´s terminal? It all makes him feel a little ill. 

The awkward silence creeps up on them. Kai turns around, most to avoid Kol´s gaze. He´s met with the dirty dishes in the sink from the first day. Ugh. He wrinkles his nose. They´ve started to smell.

He can hear Kol getting up from the couch and walking over. Then he hears a spell being said.

And god. His cutlery is flying in the air and there´s water with them too. 

“Kol!” he yells and turns to look at Kol. The other boy is smiling, but Kai can see just that small spell has taken it´s toll on him. Kol is leaning with one hand on the kitchen table. 

“Do you know how expensive all this stuff is nowadays? If you break it, you´re buying new ones,” Kai states and puts his hands on his hip. Kol just laughs at him while shaking his head, all while keeping his eyes on the flying cutlery. 

“Not my fault you don´t use your magic,” Kol says and walks back to the couch again. Kai ducks, avoiding a knife coming straight for his eye. The knife then flies over to a a drawer that magically opens. There it falls down, together with two other forks flying right behind. Just like the groceries had two nights ago, it all goes smoothly.

“Well, I was without magic for a lot of years,” Kai excuses and walks over to the couch where Kol is sitting. He sits down in it too, still feeling rather drained from the spell he cast two days ago when he saved Kol. 

“Didn´t have any magic in warlock prison,” he continues and looks over at Kol. The guy seems tired again, now that there isn´t a big smile on his face. 

“I didn´t have magic for a thousand years,” Kol replies. His voice sounds dreamy, like he´s more in his own thoughts than talking to Kai. “I never forgot about it though. The spells. The rush. A vampire is everything a witch isn´t.. I did everything I could to try and get those powers back. To get the earth back to me.”

Kol is just staring out in thin air. Kai bites his lip, he doesn´t know what to say. Apparently he´s at loss of words a lot these days. 

He knows what it´s like to be without magic. When he was born, he didn´t have magic at all. But the first time he drew someones magic? It had happened by accident, but it was still the most incredible experience. The power.. it was impossible to explain. The feeling of being in control, grounded and belonging in a way he had never felt before.

But he also knew he was a freak. A mess up. 

“Did you manage to do it?” Kai asks, to avoid his own train of thoughts. Kol snaps back to look at him. He laughs, a hallow laugh that sounds more depressive than happy.

“No. Nature isn´t there to meet our wishes, or to bend at our will. A vampire can´t do magic, and that´s how it is,” Kol states.

Kai holds back what he´s about to say. He can´t tell Kol that there´s a possibility. That nature always has a loophole. Not for Kol of course, but for people like Kai. The stories about the syphoners is famous in the Gemini coven. He can still remember his mother telling him, and his siblings, those stories of syphoners that turned evil. Those who got themselves turned to vampires and still had magic. Who drew power of their vampire side, and one of the most monstrous beings to ever walk the earth.

His parents were not the only ones who were terrified when they found out Kai was a syphoner. Kai himself had been frightened of himself. But he grew in to it, in a way. As he got older he started to dream about it, instead of being scared of it. He wanted to be as powerful as those syphoners. Those who had been banished. Actually, he wanted to be more powerful than them.

Because they had been sent to a prison world. They hadn´t been strong enough. Kai really thought he was better than them. He had the whole plan about getting turned ready. But then.. he had been beaten. He had been sent to the prison world by the very same Gemini coven that sent the syphoners form the stories there. 

Maybe that was why his parents always was so against him, why were so terrified. Maybe they were afraid not only because he was different but because they knew how the story of the old ones went. They knew the chance of power getting the best of someone. Maybe they even knew how being an outcast could drive someone over the edge. 

Kai never had the chance to finish it, to actually become a vampire-witch hybrid. Just as he was developing his plan, finally taking action, his family was quick to send him into a prison world. 

“Why didn´t you tell me you were dying?” the question falls out of him. Not at all like he had planned to ask about it. Kol´s eyes breaks the stare once the question is out. Kol had obviously hoped that Kai hadn´t remembered, or heard, Jo´s words. 

“I felt over-dramatic. I thought that you may not believe me. And I didn´t know what kind of person you were. I didn´t want you to think of me as weak, or an easy target,” Kol says. His words are cautious and obviously carefully thought out. “Most of all, I didn´t want any pity.” 

Kai sighs, “If I had known - maybe I would´ve known quicker what to do. Jo figured it out easily. Also, I don´t do pity.”

Kol looks at him for a second. His eyes calculating as he stares at Kai. Kai still doesn´t understand why Kol figured it was better to keep the information about his condition. If Kai was the one dying, he would´ve milked it for every penny. Even if it would make him look weak. People are often too nice for their own good. Manipulating people´s emotion is an art. 

But then Kai isn´t a thousand year old proud Original either. 

“Well, at least you know now,” Kol states. He looks anywhere but Kai. Kai doesn´t know what to say. Before his words would always come to him like a stream of witty and sarcastic comebacks. But now? They never seem to come at all. It´s almost like everything about Kol and his situation, has left him without words. 

Kai have killed, murdered, before. Many times, actually. He has seen people about to die, people knowing their close to death and people taking their last breath. It´s nothing new, it shouldn´t affect him. Kol, he´s terminal. He´s on the brink of death, like so many other people Kai has seen.

But Kol asked him for help. This time, Kai isn´t actually the reason someone is dying. Kai isn´t there to drag a stake through Kol´s heart or kill him in the worst way possible. Kai isn´t supposed to be the one taking a life this time.

Kai is supposed to be the one fighting for one. 

“We should sleep,” Kol says and moves over to fall down onto the air-mattress still on the floor. Kai gets up too, and nods at Kol. Now that Kol mentions it, he does feel tired. Actually, he feels drawn out. Probably from the amount of magic he used yesterday while trying to save Kol. 

It´s refreshing though, not to loose all his magic when using it. He can still blow someone up if he wants too, even after using all that magic. 

He pads over to the bathroom. Out of the corner of his eyes, he can see Kol stripping down in his living room. As he brushes his teeth he can see Kol lays down on the mattress and draws the cover up to his face . 

Kai puts his toothbrush back into it´s place, turns off the bathroom light and walks over to his own room. He stops in the doorway, and pushes the light switch there too. The livingroom gets dark. The only light is the one coming from a street light outside through the window. 

“Goodnight,” he says. It comes out awkward, and unsure. He wonders if Kol is grinning, there in the dark where Kai can´t see.

“Goodnight darling,” Kol answers.

Kai turns around, and walks over to the bed where he proceeds to fall into it. In the bed he gets his clothes off, already feeling sleep creeping up at him. When he´s only in his boxers, he happily gets under the cover where he falls asleep in only seconds.

-

The next morning, he wakes up to the smell of food. His stomach grumbles, and Kai is reminded that he hasn´t eaten since.. well, probably since that breakfast two days ago. That´s quite a long time, something the pain in his stomach confirms. 

His bedroom door is still open, he must´ve forgot to close it. Just in his boxers, he gets out of bed and walks out to where Kol is. Kol is standing by the stove with his back turned against Kai, only in the bloody shirt from the day before and boxers.

“Are you still wearing that shirt?” Kai comments. He can see the slight twitch in Kol´s movements as his voice breaks the silence. So the warlock hadn´t heard him enter. 

Kol switches one of the stove buttons down to 1, and turns around. There´s a small smile on his face.

“Truth be told, I don´t have anything else. I didn´t want to start asking you for a shirt when you were already in bed and asleep. Going here was kind of a desperate idea,” Kol explains. 

“Maybe I should take you shopping. You can´t walk around in that, people will stare,” Kai says and sits down on the couch. Kol laughs a little before he nods as he turns back again to the stove. He´s pushing something around on the pan, it smells like something with eggs. Omelette maybe?

Kai´s stomach growls rather loudly, as a complaint to it´s host for not eating. Kai puts a hand over it, in a desperate attempt to silence it. It´s to no use. Kai´s surprised the sounds does´t make an echo. 

Kol laughs a little. The only reason Kai knows, is that he can see his shoulders shaking. 

“Good thing I´m making breakfast eh?” Kol says, still with his back turned. Kai doesn´t answer, and prays that the blush that has crept onto his cheeks disappears before Kol has the chance to see. 

As Kol seems to be finishing the breakfast, Kai gets up from his seat. He goes over to the cupboards and quickly get out two plates, knifes and glasses to them both. He also finds some apple juice in his fridge. 

When Kai´s finishing setting the table, Kol has already put his omelette onto it and is sitting patiently waiting for Kai. 

They start eating in silence, both hungry and still tired. By the looks of it, Kol hasn´t slept that good at all. But then again, he´s dying. So the paleness in Kol´s face and the dark bags under his eyes, might be because of that too, and not just sleep deprivation. 

“So, what do we do now?” Kol asks, finally breaking the silence. They are coming to the end of their meal, nearly all the food Kol cooked is gone. Kai looks up at him. 

“About, what?” he asks, while he do have some ideas in his head already. The bloody shirt Kol is wearing? The fact that Kol is dying? The fact that Kol used all the eggs Kai bought a few days ago in the breakfast? Or that they no longer have the advantage of having Jo on their side? Kol rolls his eyes at Kai before answering. 

“The fact that we probably need another witch. I doubt that your sister will be any more happy to help us today than yesterday. And I can barely do a simple spell without feeling drained and you well.. not to be rude, but you´ve been out of the loop for awhile.” 

Kol takes the last piece of his egg and puts into his mouth as soon as he finishes talking. He munches away while he waits for Kai´s response. Kai bites his lip. Of course he knows of other witches, but he doesn´t really know anyone likely to help them. 

There´s Bonnie of course.. but.. she isn´t exactly happy with him. He had left her alone to rot in the prison world after all. He knows she´s out now, but she wont exactly be happy to see him. Or have him in a miles radius. If Kai tries to talk to her, she´ll probably stab him. 

Kai puts a big piece of his food in his mouth, to avoid answering.

“What about the Bennett witch?” Kol suggests when he realises that Kai isn´t answering. Kai almost spits out the food in his mouth. He manages to swallow it, but for a second it feels like he´s choking. His lungs are suddenly burning. He coughs. And coughs. 

Flashes of the times he tried to kill himself in the prison world emerges. He coughs again, and tries to suppress the memories down to the pit they had emerged from. He can feel his heart beating like crazy. 

“Are you alright?” Kol is suddenly right by his side. His voice is loud in Kai´s ear. Kol has one hand leaning on the table, the other one leaning on the back of Kai´s chair. Kai nods but he can feel his hands shaking so bad he has to put the fork he had mid-air down. His eyes swim for a second, and he takes a deep breath. He can´t make himself look at Kol. He´s about to stare at his empty glass at the table, just to have something to hold onto, but he finds it gone. 

So instead he has to stare at his hands, so pale and still shaking. 

“Just, something went down the wrong pipe,” he croaks as he takes another slow breath. He doesn´t know how long it is since Kol asked. He tries to take another breath. He can do this. He´s calmed himself before. 

Stupid brain.

“Here, take this,” Kol´s voice breaks into Kai´s mind again. Finally, Kai looks up at Kol. There´s no laughter in Kol´s eyes. Not a hint of Kol finding it hilarious, or that the boy is about to humiliate him. In fact, the other warlock is holding out a glass filled with water. 

Kai takes the glass, his hand still shaking a little. Some water drops spills over the brim. Kol puts out a hand to help Kai steady himself. Kol´s hands are cold, but a small flash of warmth still spreads to Kai´s fingers when Kol touches them with his own. 

With Kol´s help, Kai manages to bring the glass up to his lips. His shaking is slowly calming. The water is refreshing. It´s ice cold, more cold then the water from his spring usually is. It´s soothing for his throbbing throat. He closes his eyes for a second, and feels the cold spread through his body.

He feels Kol let go as Kai brings the glass down to the table. 

He looks up just as Kol´s falls down into his seat again, with an exhausted breath. Kai frowns. 

“Are you okay?” he asks. Kol laughs a little, and a smiles comes onto his lips as he looks up at Kai. Even with the guarded smile Kol now has on, Kai can see the tiredness in his face. Kol is almost paler now than he was before.

“Shouldn´t I be asking you that? It looked like more than just swallowing wrong,” Kol says, his brow furrowed into a worried expression. Kai rolls his eyes as Kol dodges his question and how he changes the theme rather obviously from Kai´s own question.

“Just.. some unpleasant memories surfacing. Sorry you had to see that,” Kai confesses. Kol nods, slowly. 

“About Bonnie?” Kol asks. Kai bites his lip, he doesn´t know what to say. How to explain the situation between him and Bonnie. He had tried to make her see, make her understand. But he also had to do certain sacrifices and actions to assure that he would get out of the prison world. 

It seems like Kol knows the witch too, at least to some extent. He did mention he had been in Mystic Falls before, and where Elena is Bonnie usually is found too. If Kai knows the story right, Elena was the reason Bonnie got killed and stuck in the Prison World in the the first place.

“How do you know Bonnie?” Kai asks Kol. If Kol can dodge the questions, and steer the conversation away from subjects he himself finds touchy, so can Kai.

“My family has a history with the Bennett witches. And I, even as a vampire, found myself attracted to witches of all kinds. I was fascinated by their magic, those powers that I myself had lost. And the Bennett´s are all quite powerful, and Bonnie.. she´s special,” Kol says with an amused voice. “I met her the last time I was in Mystic Falls. She gave me quite the aneurysm,” Kol says and grins. Kai wonders how anyone at all can grin about getting an aneurysm. But as a vampire you might get used to it. He´ve learnt quickly that it´s most witches favourite thing to do to a vampire these days. 

“Actually, I also kinda haunted her at one point.. Just for a few hours, though,” Kol continues.

Kai knows he´s staring, but Kol becomes more interesting with each word that leaves his mouth. History with the Bennett witches? Just like the Gemini coven have history with them? And so it isn´t only himself that finds Bonnie, well, special. 

Kol seems to have lived through a lot. He was born a thousand years ago, so it shouldn´t be surprising. But still. He´s gone from being a witch, to a vampire, to being literally dead, being a ghost and then a witch again in a new body. 

And if talking about Kol´s past, can move them away from talking about Kai´s close to panic attack.. well. Kai wouldn´t mind at all. 

Learning about Kol, also gives him more knowledge. And knowledge is power.

Just in case Kol turns out to be not as nice as he seems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I´ll try to not take as long writing the next chapter, but I can´t promise anything. 
> 
> I hoped you enjoyed it, and if you did - I would really appriciate it if you left a kudos or a comment!
> 
> If you want to message me, or contact me, or prompt me, you can do it in the comments on whatevenkol.tumblr.com/ask 
> 
> Hope you all have a good day!


	6. Watch me Bleed until I cant Breath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kol and Kai goes shopping, then looking for Bonnie, and things get even more worrying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .. hi. I think this update came quicker then the last one? or? Well.. it´s here anyway! 
> 
> Also - I´m going to start each chapter from now on with a song that I either feel fits to Kol/Kai, the fic, the chapter or one of the characters. (I literally have a playlist only for this fic so.)
> 
> But yeah - hope you like this new chapter of VoTpR!

(Stitches - Shawn Mendes)

 

“So what´s your story with Miss Bennett?” Kol asks as he stands up. He starts gathering the dirty dishes from the breakfast in his arms. Kai quickly gets up to help. While they are cleaning up, Kai explains.

 

“She and Damon Salvatore appeared in my Prison World one day. They were the first people I saw in a very long time. Apparently Bonbon´s grandmother sent them there. I think it was a try at saving her, when the other side collapsed,” Kai says as he hands Kol a plate to scrub off. He then turns back to the table, still talking.

 

“And well…we met of course. It didn´t take them long to figure out where they were, and why. They also figured out who I am, what I have done. And well, a lot of stuff happened. Lying. Stabbing. Magic,” Kai continues as he puts the juice back into the fridge.  
“Also I may have ditched her in the prison world, to escape,” Kai adds at the end as quick as he can. He then looks up at Kol, a little unsure of what he will see in the other warlock´s expression. But he only looks a little shocked, and a tad worried - if Kai reads him right, that is.  
“She´s out now though,” Kai quickly informs him. Kol still looks a little surprised at him, but the worry seems to fade away. Kai doesn´t know quite why Kol was surprised. His story is a little wild, but still. It should be no shock for him that Kai did whatever he could to get out of the godforsaken place. And Kol´s story is just as wild, probably even more crazy than Kai´s.

 

“So you don´t think she´ll help? Not even with some…persuasion?” Kol asks, and walks over to sit down on the couch as Kai dries off the table. When he´s finished, he walks over to the couch and sits down too. It´s not a big couch, so there´s not a lot of space between them.

 

“I don´t know,” he states. He feels Kol take a deep breath. It´s like he can feels Kol´s ribs poke him through the clothes. The guy is awfully thin. Another sign of how ill Kol actually is.

 

He has to force himself to quit worrying about Kol, and to start thinking about a solution. Because Bonnie is…well, both stubborn and strong. But she´s also kind, and willing to listen to a good argument. She dislikes Kai though, more than anyone. So taking that into consideration…The chance of Bonnie even bothering to listen falls dramatically. And if she and Kol have a past that isn´t exactly good either…well.

 

He´s about to tell Kol just that, but then an idea springs to his mind. Kol had mentioned persuasion after all.

 

“We can try talking to her. But I think it would be smartest to keep who you are to ourselves. If we can play on her feelings and make her feel bad for you, well for Kaleb. It won’t be easy but…” Kai´s voice trails off. They will have to think twice about everything they say to her. It will be important to pull at the right strings.

 

“If we do what we tried to with my sister…” he continues, and looks at the floor. He don´t want to give Kai false hope, and he don´t even know if Kol will agree to try the pity thing for a second time.

 

“I´m willing to do everything Kai,” Kol says. Kai´s head snaps around to look at the other man. Kol´s voice had sounded…desperate, in a way it haven´t before. That way when you know there´s not much time, or that you have too few options.

 

Kol is staring at him with big determent eyes, waiting for an answer.

 

“I don´t want to die,” the warlock confesses when Kai don´t say anything. Kai then nods. That´s something he can relate to. He knows it must be hard. Kol finally got something back he had longed for forever, and now it was just ripped from him again. Kai don´t even want to think about how it would be if he had to turn back into a siphoner, unable to always have magic at hand.

 

And never ever would he want to go back to that 1992 prison world. He would rather die, then see himself in there again.

 

“Well, if we´re going to meet Bonnie - you need a new shirt,” Kai says and pushes himself up off the couch. There have been a bit too much emotional thoughts and talking this morning. Kai doesn´t feel like taking any more of it.

 

He goes over to his room and to the wooden drawers in there. Somewhere he must have a shirt that Kol can borrow. The other male does look to be about the same size as himself, a little taller maybe. Broader shoulders.

 

But the truth is, Kai doesn´t have to many clothes either. Shopping hasn´t exactly been his first priority since he came out of the prison world. Plus, clothes are so expensive now. Like? It´s ridiculous. He has a washing machine anyway, and magic!

 

Kai can hear someone walk up behind him. Careful and slow steps, that he´s come to know as Kol´s.

 

“What about this?” he asks, and drags up his biggest t-shirt, that happens to be bright purple, from the drawer. When he looks at it, he might have used it to sleep in on a cold night… and not washed it. Well.

 

Kol frowns a little.

 

“What do you mean?” Kol then asks. Kai rolls his eyes, and tosses it at Kol who catches it with fumbling moves. How slow is this guy?

 

“You can borrow it. You know, while we go out to buy a shirt that actually fits!” Kai explains when Kol is still just staring at him with a far from amused expression.

Kai rolls his eyes again and asks, “What´s wrong with it?”

 

He´s actually a little offended. His taste in clothes isn´t that bad! Kol doesn´t have any other options anyway. Or…

 

He could go without a shirt but 1, that would probably be a little cold for Kol and 2, very distracting for Kai.

 

Kol sighs and tosses the shirt onto Kai´s bed. Kai is about to tell Kol a piece of his mind, and also teach him something about manners, when Kol drags the shirt he´s already wearing off. Kai is once again, met with Kol´s bare chest. His words seems to get stuck in his throat.

 

Wow. Kai can feel his pulse rising, and prays it will be the only thing that does. Does Kol have no modesty what so ever? Aren´t the originals known for their grace and good manners? Apparently that was all a myth.

 

“What should I do with this?” Kol asks. Kai looks confused at the other guy for a while, his mind having been somewhere completely different. But then he sees that Kol is holding the bloodied shirt in his hand. Kai stares at it for a second.

 

“I don´t think it can be saved,” Kai then concludes. Kol lets the shirt fall to the floor. It looks more like a ragged cloth on the floor. A ragged cloth with lots of blood on it. They both stare at if for a second. Kai ponders for a second what to say. Kol is unusually quiet.

 

“We can go shopping first, find Bonnie and then throw that out later?” Kai suggests in the end. Kol looks up at him, and nods in agreement.

 

Kol grabs the pink shirt from the bed, and quickly slides it on. It´s a tad tight, but it doesn´t look too small. To be honest, Kol looks rather good. It clings to his body. Kai can´t quite bring himself to enjoy it too much, as it also shows off Kol´s thin and obviously sick body.

 

-

 

They don´t use a lot of time to get ready and out of the apartment. In just 15 minutes they are out of the apartment, and walking down the street on the outlook for a store that sells shirts. Which doesn’t take long to find, thank god.

 

Kol walks in first, Kai hot on his heels. A bell jingles over their head as they enter. The cashier doesn´t even raise his eyes from where he´s reading some magazine. Kai quickly scans the shop with his eyes, just in case anyone he knows is in there. The Mystic Falls people have a habit of showing up in places where you really don´t want them too, and that at the worst possible times.

 

“Have you figured out a better plan on how we can convince the Bennett witch to help?” Kol asks, as he browses a stack of shirts. Kai bites his lips, and looks on as Kol pulls out a black shirt and exams it for a few seconds.

 

“Not anything else then trying to make her feel sorry for you,” he says to Kol, as Kol hangs the shirt over his arm.

 

Kol looks up at him, Kai can see that he´s worried but not saying it. He can see how Kol keeps his mouth in a straight line, and how Kol´s brows are slightly furrowed.

 

“I´ll, we´ll...it will work. Promise!” Kai says before he turns to a stack of shirts and drags out a grey one. It´s slimfit v-neck. Yes! Kai´s mind screams as he hands it to Kol, who smiles a little at it.

 

“If it doesn´t?” Kol asks, as he takes the shirt into his own hands.

 

“Then…we´ll figure out something else. There´s always a way. Now, go and try them on!” Kai says and takes a hold of Kol´s shoulders and steers him towards the changing room. He quickly pushes the curtains away, before forcing Kol into it. He then shuts the curtains again, and leans against the wall beside the room. He lets out a long breath he hadn´t realized he had been holding.

 

 

He hears Kol change inside of there. For some reason his mind wanders from worrying about the whole Bonnie thing, over to Kol in there. His naked chest. The hint of abs. The layer of hair on it. How it would feel against his fingers...

 

 

Kai feels his mouth go dry. He shakes his head, like that will somehow get the thoughts out of his head. Now is not the time. Kai doubts there will ever be a time.

 

Kol is dying. The chances of him surviving, even if Kai told Kol they would figure it out, are slim just like Kol´s t-shirt. Kai don´t even know exactly what kind of hex have been cast on the guy, neither does he know the witch who cast it. 

 

And anyway - Kai Parker does not want anyone. Kai just needs himself. That´s how it always have been, and how it works best.

 

“Kai?”

 

Kol´s voice breaks him out of the trance he had fallen into. He looks up and is met with Kol´s pale face. Kai´s pink shirt is now traded out with the grey v-neck. Kol is also wearing a new set of jeans, that Kai can´t even recall Kol taking in with him.

 

“So? What do you think?” Kol asks, with a grin, and does a little spin. Kai can´t help but notice how tired Kol looks, even if he´s trying to hide it. As if just changing his clothes and moving on the floor is a task nearly too exhausting for him. Like a cruel reminder of how right his thoughts from seconds ago were.

 

Kai looks the other man up and down, like he´s some professional stylist. He has to admit - even if Kol is dying, the guy looks good. The body he´s possessing is very good looking, there´s no denying that. The shirt seems like it was tailored to Kol´s thin frame.

 

“Done drooling?” Kol jokes. Kai smacks him on the arm, but laughs with him. He can feel his cheek redden. He tries to hide it by turning his back, pretending to look at the clothes laid out on the table.

 

“Maybe you need some more,” Kai mumbles.

 

He hears Kol laugh, and for a second he doesn´t understand. He turns to look at Kol with a confused face.

 

“Yeah, I bet those nice girly crop-tops would look amazing on me!” Kol says, and points at the table Kai had just been pretending to browse through. And when Kai turns, he sees that Kol is right. What he had been fake-looking on was in fact, flowery hipster-y girl-formed crop-tops.

 

Kai rolls his eyes at Kol, and hates himself a little more when he can feel yet another blush creep on his cheeks. For god’s sake!

 

In a try to get himself calmed down, he helps Kol look for potential jeans and more shirts. It looks like Kol might be staying with Kai for a while, and most of Kai´s clothes are most likely too small for Kol. And anyway, Kai doesn´t really want all of Kol´s blood and other stuff on his clothes.

 

After a while they´ve gathered enough clothes for Kol. That is when Kai is reminded that they actually have to pay for it all. At least if they are going to get it legally. He can´t remember any spell that helps with stealing clothes. He doubts there is one that works properly.

 

As the cashier peeps their things, Kai stares as the numbers go higher.

 

“Something wrong?” Kol asks. Kai forces his eyes away from the numbers to look at Kol. His brow is furrowed in confusion.

 

“I…it´s a lot of money, but I think I have enough,” Kai admits. He has no idea how much money Kol has, if any at all. He might be relying on Kai to pay it - and Kai barely has enough money as it already is. Kol still looks confused for a second, before it seems like it hits him. Kai can´t help feel a little embarrassed.

 

“You didn´t think I would allow you to, or force you, to pay, did you?” he asks, surprise clear in his voice as he rummages his pocket for what Kai assumes is his wallet. Kai can´t help but shoot a look at the cashier. He looks utterly bored, and not at all like he´s listening to the conversation. Actually, he´s just staring at Kol´s hands who are now fishing out a credit card.

 

“Well, you didn´t exactly have lots of stuff with you. How could I know what your economy is?” Kai asks, a little protective of himself.

 

Kol punches in his credit card code into the machine and takes the bag with the clothes the cashier is handing him. He then, without another word, turns and walks to the door. Kai frowns after him for a second, before he quickly follows him. Had he done something to anger Kol?

 

It doesn´t take long for Kai to reach Kol, with the whole close-to-dying part slowing Kol down and all.

 

“Is there something wrong?” Kai asks, and puts out an arm to stop Kol when the other man doesn´t seem to. Kol stares at him, but Kai can´t quite understand the face Kol is giving him as they stare at each other.

 

In the end, Kol bites his lip and breaks their stare. He moves his gaze to his shoes, and Kai can´t understand this situation at all.

 

“I didn´t think you would offer, let alone think of, paying for me,” Kol admits. Kai doesn´t really know what to answer. The whole situation is nothing else then awkward. Kai´s not one for feelings, and if he´s understood correctly Kol isn´t exactly a fan of heart to heart conversations either.

 

“Let´s just…go home with your clothes, and then go to find Bonnie yeah?” Kai suggests after they´ve stood for a while in the unbearable silence. Kol nods, looking just as relieved as Kai feels for having an excuse to get out of that talk. 

 

They walk home, mostly in silence. At the apartment, Kol changes out of Kai´s shirt, hands it back to Kai, and changes into some of his newly bought clothes.

 

In not too long they are on their way to find Bonnie Bennett. Again they have to walk slowly. Kol seems somehow even more tired, just from the simple walk. Kai almost suggests taking a cab. But then again he doesn´t even know how to get a cab in Mystic Falls, and he has a slight feeling Kol will murder him if he tries proposing it.

 

Kol has way too much pride for his own good. Maybe it´s something you get after being on earth for so many years.

 

Bonnie´s house is easy to find. When he thinks about it, he could probably use the smartphone to figure out how to get a cab just like he found out where Bonnie´s house is. They just have to follow the directions the screen tells them. In no time they are on the porch outside of Bonnie´s house.

 

“Should I just knock?” Kai asks, and looks at Kol. Kol is breathing hard, like the walk here was like running a mile for him. Instead of answering, Kol just nods his head in a quick manner.

 

With hesitant steps he walks up the stairs to the Bennett house. He wonders if she lives there alone, after she came back. Both her mother and father is gone, and so is her grams.

 

He raises his hand to knock, but a voice from the inside stops him.

 

“Who´s out there?” Bonnie says through the door. Kai is surprised he haven´t felt her magic before now. She must have felt him first, and tried to hide herself.

 

“Bonnie-” he starts, but his words gets caught in his throat. He doesn´t know what to say. How can he explain the situation to Bonnie? How can he make her believe that it´s not another trick? He´s drawing a blank. It´s not like she have been willing to listen before.

 

“Kai?” she says, both anger and surprise in her voice. “Leave,” she then continues. Now her voice is hard and unemotional. Kai rests his hands against the door, and is not surprised in the quick change. The waves of Bonnie´s magic is strong, she´s most likely leaning against the door too. Or at least hovering close by. She can still hear them.

 

He hears Kol cough behind him, the rattling in his chest loud and disgusting. Kai wrinkles his nose. The memories of himself coughing up blood at Jo and Alaric´s kitchen, before Jo gave him her magic, all too clear and recent.

 

“Kai, please just, leave me alone,” Bonnie pleads.

 

Kai turns and looks at Kol. He´s still standing up straight, but his lips looks redder than normal. Kai can´t quite place why.

 

“What is she saying?” Kol asks him with a hoarse voice.

 

“Who´s there with you?!” Bonnie yells behind the door. Kai reaches for the door handle. It would be so much easier if she could just see -

 

“OW!” he yells out. He quickly gets his hand off the handle. It had burnt him. Stung his hand so painful and in such a way it could only be magic. A spell of Bonnie´s, clearly. He grumbles a little, and whispers the healing spell he remembers Kol using that time when they had breakfast. It seems so long ago now, even if it was only a couple of days since.

 

“A friend. He really, really needs help. I´m not kidding, can you please just at least hear me out?” Kai asks and leans his forehead against the door. He´s still cradling his hand, even if the spell took the hurt away the memory of it is still clear.

 

 

There´s total silence on the other side. He can´t even hear Bonnie move around, and not the slightest hint of someone whispering a spell. The only sound he can hear is Kol´s painful breathing, and some birds in a nearby tree. Still, he braces himself for a spell coming at him.

 

“Kai, I won´t let myself be tricked again. Now, LEAVE!” Bonnie yells through the door, and he can hear a loud bang. She probably hit her fists against the door. The yelling and the bang from Bonnie´s fists are so loud, the birds that had been chirping in the tree flies away.

 

“Bonnie, LISTEN - HE´S GOING TO DIE!” Kai yells back. He can´t hold back the clear desperation in his voice. His voice sounds close to cracking from raw emotion. He just wants Bonnie to hear. To see that he´s not playing around, or having a double agenda. Not really.

 

There´s silence again. Kai can hear the shift of magic in the air. He hovers his hand above the door handle. He can´t feel any magic, there´s nothing that seem ready to electrocute him again. Maybe Bonnie has...

 

His train of thought his broken when he hears Kol´s worst cough yet. He spins around. Kol is standing hunched over, his arms around his stomach. Kai feels his heart rate pick up, there´s blood on the ground. There is blood with a dark, almost black, color dripping from Kol´s mouth. He has to stop himself from yelling Kol´s name, as he runs up to him.

 

“KO-KALEB,” even if it sounds weird, he at least haven´t exposed Kol to Bonnie.

 

Kol doesn´t even look up at him as Kai places his own hand on Kol´s back. Kol keeps coughing, vomiting, blood. It doesn´t sound good, and neither does it look good. A few drops splatters against Kai´s sneakers.

 

Kai has seen blood a thousand times before and it has never bothered him, but right now? He feels sick to his stomach.

 

“I thought Jo´s spell was supposed to keep this at bay,” he says.

 

Under his hand, he can feel Kol tremble. Random, weak, bursts of magic enters his hand. Bursts of pain. He doesn´t get an answer from the sick warlock.

 

“What´s wrong with him?”

 

He looks up. He hadn´t heard Bonnie come out the door. His mind had been so fixated on Kol, he hadn´t even heard her approach. Hadn´t even felt the presence of another´s magic come near. He´s shocked. He´s always been good at hearing, sensing, magic. Always been able to draw it out, even from the darkest corner. But now, he had let himself become so busy with Kol anyone could´ve sneaked up on him, on them.

 

“I- I´m dying,” Kol croaks and slowly raises himself up from the hunched over position. Bonnie´s eyes are still guarded, but now Kai can see something else in them - worry, and curiousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments are always welcomed with love! 
> 
> Hit me up on tumblr; whatevenkol.tumblr.com/ask
> 
> Until next time!


	7. Just a Reason

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kol confesses why he is in the condition he is, and Bonnie takes a decision in whether she wants to help them or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo.. Hi. It´s been over a year (holy shit how did that happen!). I for sure didn´t mean to leave you all hanging saying I would upload in not too long like that. But well.. I have no excuse. I lost all inspiration for this fic, and got busy with life. 
> 
> BUT IM BACK WITH A NEW CHAPTER AGAIN! I know it´s short and I am sorry for that, but hey - at least it is a chapter.

Bonnie looks first at Kol, before her eyes move to meet Kai´s. There is wonder in her eyes. Her stare is so intense that Kai almost diverts his eyes. After awhile of silence between the three of them, Bonnie again looks over at Kol.   
“What´s going on?” she asks. Her face turn guarded and closed off. She still doesn´t trust Kai, she´s probably afraid it´s come kind of trick. Kai is not surprised, at all. He didn´t expect this to go easy. 

“I just told you,” Kol says irritated, “I´m dying. My evil older brother put a hex on me, when I tried to stop him from doing something,” Kol continues. Bonnie raises her eyebrows, and bites her lip. Her gaze flicks over at Kai, who tries to keep his face as calm and collected as he can. Kol links his arm with Kai´s, and leans heavily on him. 

“Stop him from doing what?” Bonnie questions. 

“Bonnie!” Now it´s Kai´s turns to be irritated. “The guy is about to freaking die, and you want to interrogate him?!” He doesn´t mean to sound as angry as he does. But once the words are out, he can´t exactly take them back. He has always been one of those speak first think later kind of persons. 

Bonnie doesn´t look offended, nor angry. She just raises her eyebrows at him, and her mouth turns into a thin line. It looks like she´s holding back something she wants to say.

“It´s okay,” Kol says and sighs. “He tried to kill lots of people, including the rest of my family. He was on some weird power trip. He was always a bit of an outsider,” he explains.

Kai doesn´t even know if everything or anything at all Kol is saying is true. It seems trustworthy enough. Or maybe Kol is just a good actor. A master in how to sound sure in his words, and how to use his emotions. Kai had figured that someone put a hex on Kol to kill him, but he had not guessed who did it. Kol haven´t mentioned mentioned what actually happened before. He hadn´t even confessed that someone had put an hex on him, just that he was dying because of some spell. And if what Kol was saying was true..

Well, maybe the Parker´s isn´t the only dysfunctional-on-a-whole-another-level family. The Mikaelson´s seems to be ready to put up quite a fight to be the most dysfunctional of the two.

“What did you say your name was again?” Bonnie asks, and takes a few steps closer to them, closing the abnormal big distance between them.

Kai looks over at Kol, and hopes he remembers that he´s Kaleb now and not Kol. Bonnie will want a last name too. Why hadn´t they discussed what to say in more detail before? 

“Kaleb Westphall,” Kol says without even a second thought, like that has always been his name. Kai would for sure believe it, if he did not know any better. Bonnie shows no sign of the lie not working. In fact, it looks like she believes if without a doubt. 

Which is about time, judging on how fast Kol´s face have gone from having a little colour in his face to ash gray. Bonnie frowns. Kai tries to support Kol as much as he can, but even as thin and lanky as Kol is, he is still a grown man and heavy. 

“It would be really great if you could join us home to my place,” Kai says and looks at Bonnie. Even if the way home is a little long, it´s better than standing outside for ages. Bonnie´s face is still a frown as she bites her lip. It´s come quite red from all the biting she´s done. She glances back to her own house.

“No,” she then says. Kai feel anger bubbling in his chest, no? She can´t say no. She just agreed to help! What game is she playing at? 

“No? What the hell do you mean with that?” he asks, already hearing how much angrier he sounds. He´s not even trying to hide it. Kol lets out a whine of agony, Kai seems to be the only thing keeping him standing right now.

“Calm down. I´ll help you, but only if we do it here. In my house,” Bonnie states. She raises her eyebrows at Kai. Kai knows she won´t be open for discussion, but he still wants to fight. Wants to win. It´s safer at Kai´s apartment. He knows who the neighbours are, the quickest way out if they have to flee, he knows everything.

He opens his mouth to speak and Bonnie narrows her eyebrows. But then he feels Kol´s hand on his arm. The thin fragile fingers gripping around Kai´s arm. He looks up at Kol. Kol meets his eyes. 

“Please,” Kol whispers, “We can agree to this,” he continues. Kai slams his mouth shuts, and looks between Kol and Bonnie. He don´t know what to say. He doesn´t want to give in. He wants to knock Bonnie out, and kidnap her and lock her in their apartment. He wants to be in control.

But if they do that, she might refuse to help them - even if they threaten her life. It´s not like they can kill her anyway, not as long as she is their only hope. The worst thing is that she must understand she is their last hope. And if they were to kidnap her, her stupid friends would most likely come and try to save her. Kai does not want to deal with them, at all.

“Okay,” Kai agrees. Bonnie lets out a breath Kai didn´t now she was holding. Maybe he hasn´t lost his touch at being scary completely, then. Kol squeezes his arm in gratitude. Even if Kol´s skin is cold and his fingers pretty much just skin and bone, a warmth spreads through Kai.

“Follow me, I guess,” Bonnie then says. She turns around, and walks up to the house. Not once does she stop to look at them, or to check if they are following. Even as she steps back into her house again, she does not even make a single move to look back. The door is left wide open at them.

Kol links his arm with Kai´s, and Kai can feel the other male lean heavily on him. He can feel Kol´s warm breath on his neck. Kai sighs. He is not really sure if working with Bonnie is the right thing to do. Even if Bonnie is an amazing witch, she is also friends with some people Kai would categorise as his enemies. 

“Let´s go,” Kai says to both himself and Kol. Painfully slow they walk up to the house. Kol is just dragging his feet along the dry trail leading up to Bonnie´s house. The stairs is like a mountain climb. But they manage. 

Bonnie is in the living room. Kai helps Kol sit down on the couch. Concerned he watches as Kol sinks down in it, and closes his eyes. Kol looks sicker then ever before. His health has deteriorated quickly, and it worries Kai. The effect spell Jo used may be wearing off already. 

He looks at Bonnie. She is looking at the bookcase. Her finger is trailing the books, obviously she is looking for something. Kai walks over to her. The bookcase is filled with old books. Some of them look like they have been read a thousand times. Others look like they have barely been touched. 

The bookcase itself is in dark wood. The whole room is rather dark. The light from outside, and the chandelier hanging from the ceiling, helps a little in lightning it up. Further up in the bookcase, there is glasses. Pots with flowers and spices. Ingredients, Kai assumes, for spells. Also lots of candles. It all fits so well into the stereotypical witch, if it is with intention or not - Kai isn´t sure. 

“Do you think there is anything you can do?” Kai asks, breaking the silence. His gaze flickers to Kol on the couch. The only movement is the rise and fall of his chest, and even that looks weak. Maybe it is the dark, but Kol´s skin looks paler than before. That kind of sickly white that screams that something is very, very wrong.

Bonnie bites her lip. Her brows are furrowed, and she looks unsure. There is a bad feeling in Kai´s stomach. Bonnie´s finger have stopped at a book.

“I don´t know,” Bonnie says. It is barely a whisper. Kai tries not to sigh. He can feel the anger building in him. That rage that he can not control. He is not really sure where it is coming from. He wants to yell, to scream. He feels hopeless, and it makes him angry and utterly terrified. He hates not knowing what to do. He always has an answer, a way out.

But Kol is dying, and Kai has not a single idea what he can do to save him.   
What angers Kai even more, is that he cares. He cares about Kol´s survival and he does not know why, or how this happened. How he came to this. He just met Kol, for god´s sake. It is crazy! 

Bonnie takes a book out of the bookcase. It looks old. The pages are brown, and the back of it is worn many times. It must have been in use for a long time. She quickly opens it open, and the back of it nearly splits in two. 

Kai steps over to her side, and reads over her shoulder. A old grimoire of some kind, or a copy of one. The spells seems to be of the old kind, with weird words and explanations. Bonnie is quickly going through the pages, searching for something.

“How much do you actually know about magic?” Kai asks. 

Bonnie scoffs. “I spent all my time in that stupid prison trying to find a way to get my magic back. Even before that learning new ways of magic always interested me. I mean, with friends like I have I kinda had to.”

“At least you spent your time in a useful way,” Kai replies. Bonnie doesn´t answer. Silence falls over them again. Bonnie looks up from the book. She stares at something out the window. Kai don´t understand what. When he looks at her, she looks to be thinking. Suddenly she shuts the book, and turns around.

Kai is about to protest, and ask her what the hell she is doing. But then he sees her pull a few more books out of the bookcase.

When she finally seems happy with the books she´s found, she signals for Kai to follower her. They sit down in two chairs by the couch Kol is laying on. Bonnie throws the book on the table.

“If we are really doing this, you´re doing some of the work with me. No way in hell I am reading through all these-," Bonnie points at the books on the table,  "alone." Kai nods. He doesn´t mind helping. Magic has always interested him, and there might be some good spells in these books. 

"The biggest chance of finding something that can help Caleb is in these books,” Bonnie states. She isn´t looking at Kai, but he reaches out to grab one of the books anyway.

Bonnie puts a hand on his, stopping him. He looks confused up at her.  
“If you try to do something, some crazy trick, you´re straight out of here. I don´t,” Bonnie takes a deep breath, “I don´t care if this guy, I don´t care if he dies, okay? You wont be doing any magic unless I tell you too, and you wont be stealing any of these books or spells.” It isn´t a question, even if Kai doubts Bonnie could ever live with herself letting someone innocent die. Not that Kol is very innocent, but Bonnie doesn´t know that.

Even if Kai knows he could easily defeat this girl, he agrees. Bonnie has no way to know if he is lying. He´s pretty good at remembering stuff, so he wont need to steal any spells or books anyway. And if no one attacks him, he really has no need to use his magic just to be an asshole. Well, most of the time at least.   
Kai also knows that Bonnie will refuse to help him if Kai breaks the rules or disagrees. Bonnie might even refuse to include him in the search for a spell. With the quick decreasing of Kol´s health, Kai knows he better then to play around. 

Bonnie takes another deep breath, before nodding. First now she takes her hand away from Kai´s, and grabs the book she was reading in before. Kai grabs one of his own, and scoots further down in the chair to get comfortable. He knows they are going to be stuck there for awhile. With a last look over at Kol and his shallow breaths, he opens his book and starts reading. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> Find me on tumblr;
> 
> kolmikolson.tumblr.com 
> 
> I honestly have no idea when the next chapter will be up, because I have too much school work that should have been done. But I promise that I will do my best. So until next time.


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